One of Hayao Miyazai’s most beloved films, “Kiki’s Delivery service” is set to be released as a live action film in March of 2014. The original animated version was released in Japan in 1989, and then dubbed and released in the US by Disney in 1997. It is, simply put, the story of a young…
I am pretty happy to see Salvage Mice on Netflix. The US gets far too great a share of Japanese horror and gore and far too few of these fun little flix with a bit of comedy and heart. Granted, it’s still a “girls in high school uniforms fighting” kind of show, but it uses…
If you’ve been to Japan and walked through one of the drinking districts or shopping districts or malls or most any place with a good amount of foot traffic, you may have been tempted to slip inside and drop a few hundred yen into a video game. The popularity of public arcades lives on in…
One of the longest running manga in English translation in the US, Ranma 1/2, the unique story of a boy who was cursed to turn into a girl whenever he is wet by cold water. Hot water lets him revert to his original form. (Incidentally, his father turns, not into a girl, but into a…
Hitoshi Matsumoto of the comedy duo Downtown, recently told fans he had a big announcement to make. Known for having a playful and almost sadistic sense of humor at times, fans didn’t know what to expect until he announced that his film, “Big Man Japan” (Dai-Nipponjin in Japanese) was picked up for a remake by…
Reports say that Japanese actress and model, Koyuki has married actor Kenichi Matsuyama. The pair met when filming the movie Kamui Gaiden, the Legend of Kamui, based on the well-known manga and anime series. 34 year old Koyuki is best known to international audiences for her leading role in the film The Last Samurai as…
Usual Suspects writer Christopher McQuarrie has begun work on “Star Blazers” according to a recent /Film article. The article also seems to imply that if a Hollywood version is in the works, the states won’t see a theatrical release of the Japanese live action Space Battleship Yamato. It’s hard to imagine the film without the…
A live action version of the popular manga and anime Gantz has been made and stars some of Japanese most popular young actors – Kazunori Ninomiya and Kennichi Matsuyama (known as Matsu-Ken). Fans of Japanese films may know Kennichi Matsuyama best for his portrayal of L in the Death Note series. Here is a comprehensive…
A very familiar face has taken home the best actress honors at the California Independent Film Festival in Moraga, California this year. Hiromi Nagasaku will be familiar to fans of Japanese movies and dramas. She won the award for her role in the film “Cast Me If You Can” in which she stars with Toru…
UPDATE: Sadly Confessions was not nominated, but I still hope it finds a U.S. distributor. It looks like a really interesting film. The only Japanese movie that made the short list for an Academy Award (Oscar) this year is the film “Confessions”. I haven’t seen it yet so if anyone has, please feel free to…
Netflix is the leading DVD rental by mail and movie streaming service in the United States. They offer popular movies, tv shows, foreign films, documentaries, and a wide selection of pretty much everything video. You can watch Netflix on most home video game systems, on your computer, and many internet enabled TVs. Japanese movies number…
The excellent film site /Film (Slash Film) reports that Anchor Bay has picked up the rites to release Battle Royale and Battle Royale II films. Even thought the films were fine campy additions to films, I’m not sure if the campy, over the top, (kind of low tech) effects are going to lend themselves to…